East of Constantinople, West of Shanghai

About Davide Mana

Wishful thinking…

I was born in Turin, Italy, 1967.
I studied science in Turin (where they gave me a BSc in Geology on the condition I’ll never come back), London (where I thrived, working for Shell UK), Bonn (too briefly, alas! – but long enough for a Master in Applied Micrpalaeontology), Urbino (from which I fled gripping a PhD in Earth Sciences). Along the way I was also able to catch a master in Communication of Science.
I served my country playing Dungeons & Dragons in the Air Force.
Through the years I have been a call center operator, language teacher, scarecrow, university researcher, freelance researcher, statistics guru, post-doc course teacher, translator, author, content crafter, art show coordinator, editor, lecturer, game designer, fantasy writer, teacher of Taoist Philosophy, book reviewer, web designer, bicycle repairman, renewable energies pundit.

I have been writing – both for the fiction and gaming markets – since the mid ’90s, and my works were featured in a number of fiction anthologies and gaming books.
As of now, I am a hybrid author, both self- and traditionally-published, writing both in Italian and English, writing fiction, non fiction and gaming material.
I have been a member of the Horror Writers Association, and I will probably join asgain when I’ll be able to afford the expenses.

I’m the author – among other things – of the Aculeo & Amunet sword & sorcery stories, of the horror series Gli Orrori della Valle Belbo (in Italian), of the new pulp novel The Ministry of Thunder, and of the Deadlands campaign book Messico & Nuvole.In 2016, Raven’s Head Press started publishing my new pulp/adventure series The Corsair. Following the unexpected passing away of Michael Hudson, I have reprised the series as a self-published effort.
My stories appeared in various anthologies by Pro Se Press, and I contributed stories to the Pro Se Thriller of the Week project.
In 2017, gaming company GGStudio started publishing my stories set in the world of Hope & Glory – the game setting will be published in 2018.
My dinosaur adventure novel House of the Gods was published by Severed Press in January 2018.

As a translator, I worked on the Italian editions of the anthology Jews vs Zombies and of Daniel Polansky’s novel The Builders, both published by Acheron Books.

In 2018 I also launched my Patreon page

And despite all of this work, I’m still fighting back abject poverty and trying to keep my mortgaged house out of the bank’s hands, and as always I am waiting for the next hand of cards to be dealt.